Gudmundsson, Julius (1909–2001)

Julius Gudmundsson was an Adventist educator, pastor, and administrator from Iceland.

Early Life

Julius Gudmundsson was born May 21, 1909, on the farm Glæsistaðir in Landeyjar in southern Iceland. His father was Gudmundur Gíslason from Sigluvík, and his mother was Sigríður Bjarnadóttir from Herdísarvík in Selvogur.¹ Times were hard, and the yield from the farm where they lived was so modest that there was barely enough to feed the family of two adults and eleven children, even with fishing as a secondary occupation.² His mother was an unusually skilled housewife. She was one of the few people in the area who had a sewing machine, and so she sewed for the neighbors in exchange for butter, eggs, and other products. Julius described her as a woman of cheerful disposition who knew how to manage her home and raise her children.” Sadly, she died of stomach ulcer at the age of 40, when Julius was only seven years old. The housekeeping duties fell to the oldest sister, who was 18 at that time, and continued to care for her younger siblings until they could fend for themselves.³ Julius’ elementary school education was irregular, and he longed for more education. However, being a widower with eleven children, his father could not afford it.⁴

Meeting the Adventists

Julius became familiar with the Adventist message when he was in his early teens. His second oldest sister was married and lived at Heimaey, the main island in the Vestmannaeyjar Isles. There she attended pastor O.J. Olsen’s evangelistic campaign in 1922 and was among the first baptized. Later, two more of Julius’ older siblings, who were staying there, were also baptized. They brought magazines and books back to the childhood home, and Julius, who was an inquisitive teenager, read it all and became convinced that the Adventist message was true.⁵ He was ready to follow, but his father, who was a member of the Lutheran State Church, thought that Adventism was Julius’ passing interest and would not allow it. Father was unhappy that his children had been caught up in this new teaching, and while Julius was still under legal age, his father decided he was responsible for his spiritual development.

An Adventist colporteur came to their home to sell the book Et blik på vor tid (A Look at Our Time), but Mr. Gíslason was not interested. Julius was interested, caught up with the colporteur, and put his name down for a book. He read in secret all that he could lay his hand on. When he was about 17, his interest waned, but getting a job in Vestmannaeyjar and associating with other young Adventists helped him through this crisis,⁶ and when he had turned 18, he was baptized by O. J. Olsen on May 19, 1928.⁷

Education, Canvassing, and Bible Instructor

A few months after his baptism, he began canvassing with Adventist magazines and the book Þættir úr dagbók lífsins (Episodes from the Diary of Life). The sales exceeded expectations, and within eight months, he had earned enough to buy a ticket to Denmark and pay the fees for one year at the mission school in Nærum. His work as a colporteur spanned ten summers, two in Iceland, seven in Denmark, and one in Ireland. Some of his best sales and experiences he had in Catholic Ireland. He studied one year at the mission school in Nærum, three years at Vejlefjord High School, Denmark, and one year at Newbold College, England.⁸

In 1936 he received a call from the West Denmark Conference to assist pastor G.E. Westman, who held revival meetings in several places with good attendance. Then followed a year as a Bible instructor for pastor A. Guldhammer, and then again for G.E. Westman.⁹ “Three years in that kind of work in the winter and canvassing in the summer gave a good learning experience.”¹⁰ He married Gerda Lilly Jørgensen (born August 26, 1909) from Fakse, Denmark, on September 14, 1938.¹¹

Working in Iceland

In his homeland, Iceland, Gudmundsson gave a major part of his service to the church. He first served as youth and lay activities director for the Iceland-Faroes Conference 1938-1947.¹² The youth had his special attention. He organized the JMV work, translated relevant materials, and organized first aid courses and physical training for the youth. In the winter months, there was evening school for the youth in language, religion, and needlecraft. He edited the monthly youth paper, Viljinn, and had a skillful teacher helping him with the Icelandic language. E. G. White’s book Messages to Young People was translated. In the summer, a youth camp in tents was organized with 120 participants the first year, and then 175, and later 229, when there were most. It developed into a family camp. He was requested to move to the Vestmannaeyjar Isles to teach in the church school there, but first, he wanted to improve his skills and was able to obtain a degree from the Teachers’ Training College in Reykjavík in one year. When he received his certificate in 1941, he moved with his family to Vestmannaeyjar to be the pastor of the local church and leader of the church school with more than 80 pupils, in addition to his other responsibilities at the conference. They served were there from 1941 to 1947.¹³

When they moved back to the capital of Iceland, Reykjavík, in 1947, he was put in charge of the Correspondence School and completed two semesters of courses in Icelandic and Danish at the university. One thought occupied Gudmundsson a great deal. He loved the young people and saw the need to set up a mission and boarding school in Iceland.¹⁴ A school project was started, funds were being collected, and a farm of approximately forty thousand acres was bought.¹⁵ At first the government was reluctant to grant a building permit, but with a sizable collection of funds among Adventist members and other interested parties and strong financial support from the Northern European Division, the government was convinced and the construction work at the school began on June 8, 1949.¹⁶

The construction work was in progress when Gudmundsson was asked in the fall of 1949 to take over as president of the Iceland Conference. “A new landmark in the history of our church in Iceland was reached at this session, for a native-born Icelander for the first time was chosen to serve as president of the conference… Brother Gudmundsson was also ordained to the ministry at this session, and he was the first Icelander at home to be ordained.”¹⁷ In addition, he was asked to be the manager of the Iceland Publishing House, a responsibility he carried from 1949-1959.¹⁸ The following year, in the autumn of 1950, the Iceland Secondary School, Hlidardalsskoli, opened with 19 students, one teacher, and the principal, Julius Gudmundsson, in addition to the responsibilities of a conference president, publishing house manager, and Education director.¹⁹ The Gudmundssons moved their residence to the school, where he taught Bible, history, and foreign languages most weekdays and worked in the conference office Monday after school and Tuesday. This continued for ten years, from 1950 to 1960. During the winter of 1951-1952, he was granted seven months of study leave to the Seminary in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. During the winter of 1954-1955, he coordinated the evangelistic meetings in Reykjavík and was the interpreter for the British evangelist Lamont Murdoch.^{20 21} Gudmundsson was relieved from his responsibilities as a school principal in 1960 but continued as conference president until 1968.²² In these years, evangelism was his priority.²³ On September 24, 1967, the Adventist church in Iceland had its first TV appearance, with Gudmundsson as the speaker.²⁴ During his 19 years as the Iceland Conference president, the Adventist church grew from six churches and 305 members to eight churches and 458 members in a population of less than 200,000.²⁵

Serving in Denmark

From 1968 to 1972, Gudmundsson taught at Vejlefjordskolen in Denmark (Bible, English, and social studies). From 1969 to 1972, he was also pastor of the Juelsminde church. From 1972 to 1974, he took another turn as principal of Hlidardalsskoli in Iceland. From 1974 to 1977, he served as a district pastor for three churches in Nordsjælland in the East Denmark Conference. In 1977, he returned to Vejlefjordskolen, first as a teacher (1977-1981), and then as vice-principal and associate pastor of the Vejlefjord Church (1982-1984).²⁶ At the age of 73, he retired after 34 years of service in Iceland and 16 years in Denmark.²⁷

Last Years and Legacy

In their retirement, Julius and Gerda Gudmundsson moved to Juelsminde, Denmark. He was still preaching on Sabbath in local churches when requested. Their last home was the nursing home “Solbakken” in Randers. There Julius passed to his rest on January 11, 2001, and Gerda on October 31, 2002.²⁸

Gudmundsson is remembered for his great interest in young people, his dedication to his church, his caring leadership, and his friendly attitude.²⁹ He had the joy of seeing his three children follow in his steps of service in the Adventist church. Sonja was a preceptress and a teacher in several Adventist schools. Harri worked as a physician at Masanga Leprosy Hospital in Sierra Leone, West Africa.³⁰ Eric was the hospital chaplain and out clinic director at Masanga and pastor and conference president in Iceland.^{31 32}

Sources

Burgess, Reg. “Icelandic Adventists Conduct Sunday Television Service.” News and Notes, ARH, November 23, 1967.

Gudmundsson, Julius. En ny verden blev åbnet (A new world was opened). Autobiography. Skjern, Denmark: Øko-Tryk, 1998.

Gudmundsson, Julius. “Evangelism in Iceland.” British Advent Messenger, April 2, 1955.

Lindsay, G. A. “Iceland Conference.” ARH, December 29, 1949.

Schantz, Hans Jørgen. “Obituary.” Adventnyt, March 2001.

Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1996. S.v. “Iceland Publishing House;” “Iceland Secondary School.”

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbooks. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1937-1988.

Tarr, A. F. “A Visit to the Westman Islands.” ARH, December 1, 1955.

Tarr, A. F. “Enjoyable Visit to Iceland.” ARH, November 29, 1951.

Tarr, A. F. “Evangelism in Iceland.” News and Notes. ARH, March 28, 1963.

Notes

1. Harri Gudmundsson, son of Julius Gudmundsson, e-mail messages to Sven H. Jensen, January 31 and February 1, 2023.↩

2. Julius Gudmundsson, En ny verden blev åbnet (A new world was opened), Autobiography (Skjern, Denmark: Øko-tryk, 1998), 5-6.↩

3. Ibid., 6.↩

4. Harri Gudmundsson, son of Julius Gudmundsson, e-mail messages to Sven H. Jensen, January 31 and February 1, 2023.↩

5. Gudmundsson, En ny verden blev åbnet, 6.↩

6. Ibid., 7-8.↩

7. Eric Gudmundsson, son of Julius Gudmundsson, e-mail message to Sven H. Jensen, February 1 and 6, 2023.↩

8. Gudmundsson, En ny verden blev åbnet, 8-10; Hans Jørgen Schantz, “Obituary,” Adventnyt, March 2001.↩

9. Julius Gudmundsson’ CV (1936-1984), sent by Harri Gudmundsson to Sven H. Jensen, February 1, 2023.↩

10. Gudmundsson, En ny verden blev åbnet, 10.↩

11. Harri Gudmundsson, son of Julius Gudmundsson, e-mail messages to Sven H. Jensen, January 31 and February 1, 2023.↩

12. “Iceland-Faroes Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1939), 173, and the following years.↩

13. Gudmundsson, En ny verden blev åbnet, 10-12.↩

14. Ibid., 13-14.↩

15. A. F. Tarr, “Enjoyable Visit to Iceland,” ARH, November 29, 1951, 18.↩

16. Gudmundsson, En ny verden blev åbnet, 13-14.↩

17. G. A. Lindsay, “Iceland Conference,” ARH, December 29, 1949, 17.↩

18. Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia (1996), s.v. “Iceland Publishing House.”↩

19. Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia (1996), s.v. “Iceland Secondary School.”↩

20. Gudmundsson, En ny verden blev åbnet, 14.↩

21. Julius Gudmundsson, “Evangelism in Iceland,” British Advent Messenger, April 2, 1955, 12.↩

22. “Iceland Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (1968), 191.↩

23. A. F. Tarr, “Evangelism in Iceland,” News and Notes, ARH, March 28, 1963, 24.↩

24. Reg Burgess, “Icelandic Adventists Conduct Sunday Television Service,” News and Notes, ARH, November 23, 1967, 32.↩

25. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbooks (1950 and 1968).↩

26. Julius Gudmundsson’s CV.↩

27. Schantz, “Obituary.”↩

28. Harri Gudmundsson, son of Julius Gudmundsson, e-mail messages to Sven H. Jensen, January 31 and February 1, 2023.↩

29. A. F. Tarr, “A Visit to the Westman Islands,” ARH, December 1, 1955, 20. Hans Jørgen Schantz.↩

30. Harri Gudmundsson, son of Julius Gudmundsson, e-mail messages to Sven H. Jensen, January 31 and February 1, 2023.↩

31. Eric Gudmundsson, son of Julius Gudmundsson, e-mail message to Sven H. Jensen, February 1 and 6, 2023.↩

32. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbooks (1989-2015).↩